Of the many strange phenomena we’ve observed in recent years, perhaps the strangest is that of Failing Upwards. No matter how incompetent high-profile persons and institutions show themselves to be, their wealth, power, influence, and ambitions only seem to grow. Indeed, when one is strategically positioned to benefit from emergencies and disasters, the bigger the disaster, the bigger the benefit. And so we find ourselves in an era in which catastrophes are perversely incentivized.
In this episode of the Hot Zone, we talk about the recent activities of the usual suspects, Peter Daszak and his cronies at NIAID.
In addition to these veteran mess makers, we discuss yet another gain-of-function project—this one conducted by the USDA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences to mutate H5N1 Bird Flu via serial passage through mallard ducks, Chinese geese, and Japanese quail.
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